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The NBA’s new CBA is squeezing the league’s middle class

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:01:58 GMT

Former Orlando Magic forward Bol Bol posted career-highs in scoring, rebounding and blocked shots as a promising seven-footer with guard-like skills last season.Yet when it was time for the market to dictate his worth in contract negotiations, the 24-year-old Bol settled on a one-year veteran’s minimum deal with the Phoenix Suns worth just $2.165 million.Such is the state of affairs for NBA players who don’t classify as franchise cornerstones but are looking to be paid fair market value in salary under the league’s new collective bargaining agreement.While NBA teams dedicate an average of two-thirds of this season’s $136M salary cap to the top-three players on their roster, the league’s middle class suddenly finds itself squeezed thin.Of the approximate $3.8B in player salaries signed away this summer, $2.5B, or 64%, is split among just 19 players, ranging from Boston’s Jaylen Brown — who just signed the richest contract in NBA history ̵...

Sharks along Nantucket: A researcher has tagged 100-plus sharks there as population rebounds

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:01:58 GMT

While much of the shark focus is centered on great whites along Cape Cod this time of year, another shark species has been making waves in recent years off of Nantucket.Sandbar sharks, after the local population was decimated decades ago because of overfishing, are now all over the Nantucket coast — and a researcher at the New England Aquarium has tagged more than 120 sandbar sharks in the area.Caroline Collatos, a PhD student and shark researcher at the New England Aquarium’s Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life, has been catching, tagging and releasing sandbar sharks off of Nantucket for the last three years.“We’re starting to see a potential rebound now with sandbar sharks,” Collatos recently told the Herald, noting that there weren’t nearly as many sandbar sharks in the water when growing up in the 1990s.The local shark population had been wiped out because of overfishing for their large dorsal fin, which was highly desired for shark soup.Then...

US needs win or draw to avoid risk of elimination in group play for first time in Women's World Cup

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:01:58 GMT

AUCKLAND, New Zealand (AP) — The United States arrived at the Women's World Cup as the favorite to win an unprecedented third consecutive title. But after an underwhelming draw against the Netherlands, there's a real chance the Americans could be eliminated in group play for the first time in tournament history.The U.S. plays Portugal in the third and final match of Group E play, and if Portugal pulls off an upset Tuesday at Eden Park in Auckland, the Americans could be in big trouble. The United States needs to either win or draw against Portugal, one of eight teams playing in its first World Cup, to ensure the Americans continue to play in this tournament. “I think we feel like we have to win everything all the time,” said American star Megan Rapinoe. “That’s the expectation for ourselves. That’s the expectation playing for U.S. national team. It’s just kind of like, ‘Why would you come into the World Cup if you don’t think that you should win it, and if you don’t think that you c...

Clippers’ Amir Coffey arrested on suspicion of carrying a concealed firearm in a vehicle, police say

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:01:58 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Los Angeles Clippers shooting guard Amir Coffey was arrested early Sunday on a firearms misdemeanor in Hollywood, authorities said.Coffey, 26, was a passenger in a vehicle that police pulled over for speeding shortly before 2 a.m., according to Los Angeles Police Officer Tony Im, a department spokesperson.Coffey was cited for carrying a concealed firearm in a vehicle, Im said. He was released on his own recognizance from a county jail on $10,000 bail.He is scheduled to appear in court on Aug. 24, jail records show.The driver was cited for speeding, and another passenger received a misdemeanor for possession of marijuana, Im said. Coffey has been with the Clippers for four seasons.“We’re aware of a legal situation involving Amir Coffey and are looking into it,” the team said in a statement on Monday.It’s possible that Coffey could face sanctions from the NBA. The league typically reviews all matters of personal and criminal conduct and can issue a fine or sus...

Appeals court lets Kentucky enforce ban on transgender care for minors

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:01:58 GMT

A federal appeals court is allowing Kentucky to enforce a recently enacted ban on gender-affirming care for young transgender people while the issue is being litigated.The 2-1 decision Monday from the Sixth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati is not unexpected. The same three-judge panel ruled the same way earlier this month on a similar case in Tennessee.The Kentucky law, enacted this year over the veto of Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear, prevents transgender minors from accessing puberty blockers and hormone therapy.At least 20 states have now enacted laws restricting or banning gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors. Most of those states face lawsuits. A federal judge struck down Arkansas’ ban as unconstitutional. In other states, judges have issued disparate rulings on whether the laws can be enforced while the cases are being litigated.In Kentucky, U.S. District Judge David Hale had initially blocked Kentucky from enforcing the ban. But he lifted that injunct...

U.S. needs win or draw to avoid risk of elimination from Women’s World Cup

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:01:58 GMT

AUCKLAND, New Zealand (AP) — The United States arrived at the Women’s World Cup as the favourite to win an unprecedented third consecutive title. But after an underwhelming draw against the Netherlands, there’s a real chance the Americans could be eliminated in group play for the first time in tournament history.The U.S. plays Portugal in the third and final match of Group E play, and if Portugal pulls off an upset Tuesday at Eden Park in Auckland, the Americans could be in big trouble. The U.S. needs to either win or draw against Portugal, one of eight teams playing in its first World Cup, to ensure the Americans continue to play in this tournament. “I think we feel like we have to win everything all the time,” said American star Megan Rapinoe.“That’s the expectation for ourselves. That’s the expectation playing for U.S. national team. It’s just kind of like, ‘Why would you come into the World Cup if you don’t think that you should win it, and if you don’t think that yo...

Police search for driver who hit 6 migrant workers in North Carolina Walmart parking lot

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:01:58 GMT

LINCOLNTON, N.C. (AP) — Six migrant workers who were intentionally hit by an SUV in a Walmart parking lot in North Carolina have been released from the hospital, police said on Monday. The workers were rammed by a vehicle outside a Walmart in Lincolnton on Sunday in what appears to have been an intentional assault, but Maj. Brian Greene, interim chief of the Lincolnton Police Department, said the driver’s motives are still under investigation. The victims were treated at a local hospital for their injuries, and all were released late Sunday, Greene told The Associated Press.Police identified them as Jorge A. Lopez, Zalapa M. Hermosillo, Jose L. Calderon, Luis D. Alcantar, Rodrigo M. Gutierrez-Tapia and Santiago Baltazar. They could not be reached for comment Monday afternoon.The workers had arrived at the Walmart parking lot late Sunday morning from Knob Creek Orchard in Lawndale, where they tend to the farmland. Greene said they make the same trip once a week and use a shaded...

Ex-millionaire who had ties to corrupt politicians gets 5-plus years in prison for real estate fraud

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:01:58 GMT

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. (AP) — A one-time millionaire real estate developer with past ties to corrupt Connecticut politicians was sentenced to more than five years in prison on Monday for fraud involving a failed hotel-condominium project in Florida and properties elsewhere.Robert Matthews requested a prison sentence of no more than 27 months, but instead got 65 months from Judge Victor Bolden during a hearing in federal court in Bridgeport, Connecticut.Prosecutors said Matthews, of Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, and formerly of the Connecticut town of Washington, scammed foreign investors out of millions of dollars from 2012 to 2018 while trying to develop the Palm House Hotel in Palm Beach. More than 60 investors contributed at least $500,000 apiece, officials said.Matthews made attractive but false assertions that celebrities and politicians — including former Presidents Donald Trump and Bill Clinton — would be involved in the project, authorities said. Matthews and his co-defendants use...

ACLU of Indiana asks state’s high court to keep hold on near-total abortion ban in place for now

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:01:58 GMT

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — The American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana asked the state’s high court Monday to keep Indiana’s near-total abortion ban on hold while it pursues a narrower preliminary injunction in a trial court to address the scope of the ban’s exemption allowing women facing serious health risks to obtain abortions.The petition seeking a rehearing will delay the ban from taking effect as soon as Tuesday while the Indiana Supreme Court considers the matter. The ACLU of Indiana’s request comes after the high court ruled on June 30 that Indiana’s Republican-backed ban doesn’t violate the state constitution.The ACLU of Indiana, representing Planned Parenthood and other abortion clinic operators, had challenged the constitutionality of the ban. A county judge later ruled that the ban likely violated the state constitution’s privacy protections.But in its June ruling, the high court struck down the county judge’s injunction that has blocked a ...

Nigerian state relaxes curfew after warehouses and shops are looted

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:01:58 GMT

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Authorities in northeastern Nigeria’s Adamawa state have relaxed a curfew announced in response to what they said was widespread looting of shops and warehouses. The 24-hour curfew has been eased to last only from dusk to dawn, Adamawa Gov. Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri said, according to a statement issued by his office.The governor had declared the curfew in response to “escalating violence by hoodlums attacking people and businesses” in the state capital, his spokesperson said in an earlier statement. He alleged the law-breakers assaulted residents in Yola while breaking into businesses and homes and “carting away property.”Several government policies introduced by Nigerian President Bola Tinubu, who took office in late May, have further squeezed millions of people battling with hunger and poverty in Africa’s biggest economy. The government ended decades-long gasoline subsidies, more than doubling the price of gas and causing a spike in prices of food and other essen...